Related Articles

Officials accept those who never pay their court fine are unlikely to pay an added charge either.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We want to send a strong message to offenders that if you try and avoid paying a criminal fine, you will have to pay for the time and trouble of enforcing the court’s order.

“It is not right that hardworking taxpayers foot the bill for those offenders who do not pay their penalty as ordered by the court.”

Proposals to allow the courts to charge for enforcement action will be added to the Crime and Court Bill during its second reading in Parliament today.

A final decision is still to be made on what the fixed charge will be but it is likely to be at least the same value of the Victim’s Surcharge – £15 – which is currently added to some fines.

Fines are the most common form of sentence imposed by the courts and account for two thirds of sentences passed.

Last year, some £413 million worth of financial penalties were handed down.

However, prompt payment of such orders is notoriously poor and last year only £279m was collected.

In total, as of March this year, some £593 million worth of fines remained unpaid.

A report by the National Audit Office last year warned that once outstanding confiscation orders and assets seizures were added in, the total of outstanding court orders was almost £2 billion.

At the time, Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said the MoJ "should not underestimate how much there is still to do. Collection of fines and assets due has not improved”.

The HM Courts and Tribunals Service insists it takes fine enforcement "very seriously" and clamping down on fine dodgers is a national priority.

There are some 400 civilian enforcement officers (CEOs) and around 1,700 enforcement administration officers currently employed to ensure court fines are paid.

Problems they face include debtors, by their nature, can regularly change their personal circumstances and addresses while others actively try to avoid detection.